Nobody Wakes Up Fluent in AI: A Playbook for HR Leaders

Just as computers became part of the workplace in the 1980s, AI is becoming a fundamental workplace skill today. “No one woke up computer literate in 1985, and no one is going to wake up AI fluent in 2026,” said Abigail Seldin, chief growth officer at Scholarship America.

Fortunately, HR leaders can take practical steps to help their teams build the skills and confidence they need to use AI well. Seldin spoke about the evolution of AI and how HR leaders can help their teams grow with it during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s Philadelphia conference. 

“AI fluency is an emerging standard that many of us are working to define and implement in real time,” said Seldin. “In this moment of transformation and dislocation, buy-in can be hard to come by.”

Seldin was an early AI adopter and started learning more about this tool in November 2022. What originally started as something she was curious about turned into a multipurpose tool.

“Today, a few years later, I use it to probe weaknesses in my go-to-market plans, identify summer camps for my sons, and to find obscure headlines to show in talks,” she said. “It’s a multi-prompt use.”

But Seldin realizes not everyone is a daily AI user. She’s exchanging prompts with some of her colleagues often, while she’s gently encouraging other team members to start using AI.

Scholarships With an AI Focus Are Continually Emerging

At Scholarship America, Seldin and her team members are in the business of removing barriers between learners and the training and education they seek. Scholarship America runs 1,300 different scholarship programs to make this connection possible, she says. Scholarship management is a big part of this process and it’s a double-sided marketplace, including the sponsors and the applicants. 

“Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, we have begun to see interest in scholarship programs focused on AI,” said Seldin. “Some sponsors choose to expand existing programs to add AI as an allowable focus area, and others choose to set up brand new programs either for their employees or members of the public.”

With the increase of AI, it’s important for HR managers to take a leading role. 

“As HR leaders, we are responsible not just to steer learning and development but also to steward organizational culture in this transformational and dislocating moment,” said Seldin. 

Seldin shared a case study that started with an AT&T strike where 155,000 workers walked off the job in 1986 for about a month and did so to strike for job security and retraining support purposes. As a result, a resolution included a $21 million investment from AT&T which went towards offering targeted training and pipelines so workers could transition before the jobs they held vanished. 

Through partnerships with community colleges, customized short-term vocational programs were developed, with the colleges paid upfront to ease financial concerns for employees. The program ultimately retrained more than 150,000 people and helped fill thousands of internal roles with workers who had completed the training. When AT&T laid off workers in the late 1980s, those who had participated in the program found new jobs faster than those who had not.

“What made these efforts so successful, both for employees who were ultimately retrained and upskilled, as well as those who went on to other careers after reductions in force, is that the employers defined the needs,” said Seldin. “They defined the training that was going to help them meet those needs.”

How HR Leaders Can Help Implement AI

Today, HR leaders are well positioned to understand what workers need and what they’re willing to try. Scholarship America is seeing interest across three areas: access, application, and acceleration.

Before workers can become AI fluent, they need access to the technology. That requires tech, time, and interest, she says. Peer-to-peer demonstrations can help, but even “free” programs require internet access, making investments in technology essential.

The next step is application: learning how to use AI in the context of the work. This can include individual courses, short online certificates, or product-specific training. But AI fluency takes time, even for workers eager to learn.

Acceleration is the final step, focused on leadership. These are the workers who can help lead their organizations through the adoption of AI.

“We know that these opportunities and obligations to our employees don't end when employment does, as AI eliminates job categories, and I expect it will,” said Seldin. “Employers can also invest in the people leaving, helping them acquire the skills they need in the labor market that they’re entering.”

While no one wakes up fluent in AI, Seldin knows that HR leaders want to work together to ensure employees aren’t left behind during this period of dislocation and change.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks our partner, Scholarship America, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. 

Kristen Kwiatkowski is a professional freelance writer covering a wide array of industries, with a focus on food and beverage and business. Her work has been featured in the Bucks County Herald, Eater Philly, Edible Lehigh Valley, Cider Culture, and The Town Dish.

(Photos by Josh Larson for From Day One)